NJEA President Spiller Spends $545 Per Vote to Finish 5th in the Democratic Primary – All Funded by Teachers’ Mandatory Dues

In the real world, NJEA President Sean Spiller lost badly in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, finishing fifth and garnering only 10.7% of the vote.  By any rational measure, Spiller’s poor showing reveals the profligate waste of $46 million of teachers’ highest-in-the-nation, mandatory dues, which were simply appropriated by NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) for Spiller’s vanity run.  Yet Spiller and NJEA leadership continue to deceive teachers. Here’s the NJEA’s statement on its website : “Spiller makes strong showing in Dem primary.”  And: Spiller’s “people-powered campaign” finished “much stronger than expected …”  The year-long campaign “paid off with a strong showing …”  Compounding the deceit, NJEA Vice President Beatty described Spiller’s “unprecedented grassroots effort powered by thousands of member volunteers” and “the effort that our fellow NJEA members put into it.”  This can only be described as disinformation intended to deliberately mislead teachers.

Here are the facts:

SPILLER PERFORMED POORLY: As Politico‘s Matt Friedman summarized: “In the end, the primary wasn’t close.”  In fact, the AP called the race for Sherrill at 8:39pm, very soon after the polls closed. The New York Times tabulated the results:

1. Mikie Sherrill: 267,404; 34%
2. Ras Baraka: 160,094; 20.4%
3. Steve Fulop: 124,743; 15.9%
4. Josh Gottheimer: 92,912; 11.8%
5. Sean Spiller: 84,367; 10.7%
6. Steve Sweeney: 56,625; 7.2%

THIS WAS A PROFLIGATE WASTE OF TEACHERS’ DUES: According to NJ Spotlight News, it was “the most expensive race for governor on record,” with a total of $151 million spent by all 11 candidates and the independent expenditure groups backing them.  Almost 0ne-third of the total was spent by the NJEA backing one candidate, Sean Spiller.  All told, the NJEA spent an “extraordinary” $46 million via NJEA Super PAC Garden State Forward and NJEA-run Super PAC Working New Jersey. The $46 million is undoubtedly a record for a single candidate and amounts to an astounding $545 for each vote cast for Spiller, a candidate “who did not resonate with a statewide audience.”  All of the $46 million was taken from New Jersey teachers’ highest-in-the-nation mandatory dues. ALL OF IT!

SPILLER WAS A DEEPLY FLAWED CANDIDATE: Tellingly, the article describes how Spiller gave his concession speech in Montclair to a mere 85 supporters — his only campaign event in the town where he was a “controversial,” single-term mayor.  Politico‘s Friedman had this take on the Montclair results:

[T]he early results I saw last night were terrible for Spiller, whose tumultuous four years as mayor (he decided not to seek reelection) doesn’t appear to have endeared him to the town’s voters. Early numbers showed him competing with Sweeney for last place in many, perhaps most, of the town’s voting districts.

SPILLER’S CAMPAIGN WAS NOT POWERED BY NJEA MEMBERS BUT OUTSOURCED TO A SUPER PAC:  The $46 million of dues was routed via Garden State Forward to a NJEA-run Super PAC (independent expenditure group) Working New Jersey.  Spiller’s actual campaign had no paid staff and raised a mere $436,000. Rather than use NJEA “volunteers” to get out the vote as Beatty claimed, the NJEA paid $8.3 million to a mysterious consulting firm for canvassing (door-to-door solicitation of votes).  Here’s how Politico‘s Friedman described it:

The super PAC that’s unofficially running NJEA President Sean Spiller’s campaign for governor has spent as much just on canvassing as his rival candidates’ actual campaigns are allowed to spend, period.

As Friedman notes, $8.3 million is an extremely high number for canvassing, which we believe strongly indicates paid canvassing. Not volunteers and very likely not NJEA members. Perhaps the NJEA could provide some clarity.

The bottom line is that Tuesday’s results underscore what a scandal this is.  Using teachers’ dues, NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) spent a record $46 million on Spiller’s “weird ego trip” while trying to hide the truth from teachers. They have a lot of explaining to do.